Why has Parabolic started contacting api.github.com on startup?

[UnconnectedBedna]

Since latest versions, every time Parabolic starts, a request to api.github.com is sent.
I have zero interest in giving microsoft data about my usage of any application.
I also do not appreciate new telemetry suddenly being implemented without any information to me as the user.

So, WHAT is being sent to microsoft (github) every time Parabolic starts?
Why is there no opt-in/opt-out choice for telemetry?

[YarosMallorca]

Probably just checking for new versions!!

[nlogozzo]

@YarosMallorca is correct.

On Windows, Parabolic sends 2 requests to api.github.com . One to check for Parabolic updates, one to check for yt-dlp updates.

On Linux, Parabolic sends 1 request to api.github.com to check for yt-dlp updates.

You can see the source code for the Updater module here: https://github.com/NickvisionApps/libnick/blob/main/src/update/updater.cpp#L61

[UnconnectedBedna]

This is what I consider "good telemetry". Thank you for clarifying. 👍
(I did search for the url among the code on github but the search function returned nothing for some reason)

Follow up question:
What will be done with this information on a flatpak installation on linux?
Since it's a flatpak, yt-dlp is included in the package. What yt-dlp is it checking for?
And if there is a newer version, what will be done with that information? (flatpaks don't self upgrade afaik?)

My C++ knowledge is extremely limited and I could not find any references to yt-dlp in the code.
I guess I could ask an AI, but the source for the code (the dev) knows way better than any AI ever will. 👍

Edit
Please feel free to convert this to a discussion instead (should probably have been a discussion and not an issue from the start to be honest, my bad. And only repo maintainer(s) can convert issues to discussions)

[nlogozzo]

(I did search for the url among the code on github but the search function returned nothing for some reason)

This is because the Updater module code is stored on libnick . libnick is a Nickvision built library that all of our apps rely on as it provides a cross-platform base for many common desktop app functionality: handling updates, sending notifications, system credential manager access, networking, etc...

What will be done with this information on a flatpak installation on linux?
Since it's a flatpak, yt-dlp is included in the package. What yt-dlp is it checking for?
And if there is a newer version, what will be done with that information? (flatpaks don't self upgrade afaik?)

Great question! So yes, the flatpak is bundled with yt-dlp. But the app checks for a newer version because if one is available, Parabolic will actually display a notification and allow you to download the new yt-dlp executable, yes even on Flatpak, for the app to use.

This is important as most of the times when a new yt-dlp version is released, the old versions stop working.

Therefore, this allows Parabolic to continue functioning right away instead of waiting for me to release a new application update with a new bundled yt-dlp version.

My C++ knowledge is extremely limited and I could not find any references to yt-dlp in the code.

The yt-dlp code is handled in a few places:

• ytdlpmanager.cpp - this handles checking for yt-dlp updates, downloading them, and then choosing the correct executable of yt-dlp to run.
• downloadoptions.cpp - this takes all of the options the user has configured in both Preferences and for a specific download and creates the list of arguments to pass to yt-dlp
• downloadmanager.cpp - this is where URL validation happens and where Parabolic determines and parses all information available for a download (although it gets off-loaded to some other classes from this function: UrlInfo, Media, etc...)
• download.cpp - this is where Parabolic starts an individual download with yt-dlp and where it monitors the download for it's log and status.

but the source for the code (the dev) knows way better than any AI ever will.

Correct! And I always love talking about the architecture of my code and the way it works!

[UnconnectedBedna]

Great question! So yes, the flatpak is bundled with yt-dlp. But the app checks for a newer version because if one is available, Parabolic will actually display a notification and allow you to download the new yt-dlp executable, yes even on Flatpak, for the app to use.

This is important as most of the times when a new yt-dlp version is released, the old versions stop working.

Therefore, this allows Parabolic to continue functioning right away instead of waiting for me to release a new application update with a new bundled yt-dlp version.

Ah, I did not know flatpak allowed applications to do that!
I assume it's these that will be switched out if never versions are available?

$ sudo find / -mount -type f -iname 'yt-dlp' -ls 
[sudo] password for <redacted>:

9065700       4 -rwxr-xr-x   2 root     root          204 Jan  1  1970 /var/lib/flatpak/app/org.nickvision.tubeconverter/x86_64/stable/06ac52ae1c739bd10ad0ac4638065a54ef5e94e03b8dd3a1e9fc374cb5d77384/files/bin/yt-dlp
11050262      8 -rw-r--r--   2 root     root         6395 Jan  1  1970 /var/lib/flatpak/app/org.nickvision.tubeconverter/x86_64/stable/06ac52ae1c739bd10ad0ac4638065a54ef5e94e03b8dd3a1e9fc374cb5d77384/files/share/bash-completion/completions/yt-dlp

Is it the yt-dlp version that is available on flathub that is updated locally? Or how does it work with flatpak without repackaging the whole parabolic suite?

[nlogozzo]

I assume it's these that will be switched out if never versions are available?

Not exactly.

Is it the yt-dlp version that is available on flathub that is updated locally? Or how does it work with flatpak without repackaging the whole parabolic suite?

So the yt-dlp that is bundled with the Flatpak is stored and ran from /app/bin, Flatpak's equivalent to /usr/bin.

When there is a new yt-dlp update that Parabolic sees, it will download it to XDG_CACHE_DIR, I believe that's ~/.local/share equivalent.

Then the ytdlpmanager.cpp in Parabolic will check when getting the yt-dlp binary path, if an updated version was downloaded, it will provide the one from XDG_CACHE_DIR, otherwise will provide the one from bin.

[UnconnectedBedna]

XDG_CACHE_HOME I assume, since there is no _DIR.

Then the ytdlpmanager.cpp in Parabolic will check when getting the yt-dlp binary path, if an updated version was downloaded, it will provide the one from XDG_CACHE_DIR, otherwise will provide the one from bin.

And moves/copies the binary too? Because $XDG_CACHE_HOME is the cache in my home directory, ie $HOME/.cache
Well, the only yt-dlp binary available for flatpak on my system is at the location I showed earlier, but there is a whole bunch of .json files in $HOME/.var/app/org.nickvision.tubeconverter/cache/yt-dlp/{youtube-nsig|youtube-sigfuncs|youtube-sts}.

Will be interesting to see how it's handled when there is a new update for yt-dlp.
Thanks for clarifying. 👍

[nlogozzo]

XDG_CACHE_HOME I assume, since there is no _DIR.

Correct. Sorry working from memory here 😅

And moves/copies the binary too?

No, it'll run the binary straight from that directory. And keep the original bundled binary unaffected.

Because $XDG_CACHE_HOME is the cache in my home directory, ie $HOME/.cache

Correct. That's the directory.

Well, the only yt-dlp binary available for flatpak on my system is at the location I showed earlier, but there is a whole bunch of .json files in $HOME/.var/app/org.nickvision.tubeconverter/cache/yt-dlp/{youtube-nsig|youtube-sigfuncs|youtube-sts}.

Yes well since you haven't ran an in-app yt-dlp update yet, there will be no binary. It will continue working with the one from the bin folder.

---

Parabolic V2025.8.0 came bundled with yt-dlp 2025.08.11 and saw in-app updates for both 2025.08.21 and 2025.08.27 . Parabolic V2025.8.1 comes bundled with yt-dlp 2025.08.27, the current latest. If there is a new yt-dlp version available while you are using a Parabolic version without the latest bundled, you will see a notification on startup asking you to update.

[UnconnectedBedna]

What will happen if there is an update, it gets downloaded to $HOME/.cache and then gets deleted. I occationally empty that directory completely, you know, it being a cache and all...
Should the bin not be moved after download?

[nlogozzo]

What will happen if there is an update, it gets downloaded to $HOME/.cache and then gets deleted. I occationally empty that directory completely, you know, it being a cache and all...

Should the bin not be moved after download?

Well remember, for XDG_CACHE_HOME on Flatpak it's in the whole .var nested path specific to Parabolic. So it shouldn't touch your actual .cache folder in your home directory.

But either way if it gets deleted, ytdlpmanager.cpp will notice and will prompt you to download the update again.

[UnconnectedBedna]

So somewhere in $HOME/.var/app/org.nickvision.tubeconverter/cache/ i suppose...

But either way if it gets deleted, ytdlpmanager.cpp will notice and will prompt you to download the update again.

Fair...

[nlogozzo]

So somewhere in $HOME/.var/app/org.nickvision.tubeconverter/cache/ i suppose...

Yes if the app was running locally/from source it would be ~/.cache but Flatpak does its sandboxing magic